


The Journiers

by Primrose_Chase_Foster



Series: The Journiers [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25811482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Primrose_Chase_Foster/pseuds/Primrose_Chase_Foster
Summary: Every year 3 teenagers, from the age of 14 to 20 are chosen to go on a mission. They have to get the one thing that can keep their home alive. The three have to go through thick forest, hot dessert, scale mountains, and each place has new difficulties, new monsters to fight. All the while the ominous truth that almost every year only one of the three teenagers comes back from the mission.
Series: The Journiers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872694
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One

“Three of you shall go on a journey that will shape your lives. You must get the Diamond of the North and retrieve it, then you shall be blessed with riches and fame, and life. You will each be given a pack filled with the following-” Therethin’s monotone voice drawled on as the feet of all the listeners shuffled.   
Jacon’s mind wandered, he didn’t have to worry about a thing. He wouldn’t be chosen. His father was a millionaire, his father paid to have his name taken out of the bucket. He only had a few more years left of standing here, bored to death, hearing the same long speech every year. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t watch it on the projector at home, why did he have to stand here for hours?   
Wasn’t one of the luxuries of having money mean he owned a projector?   
He heard one of the kids next to him try to hide her sobs. His eyes searched the nearby crowd and saw her. About seventeen with long chocolate hair that was twisted in a braid reaching down her back. Her head was down and he watched her sides shudder and heard a sniffle.   
He shifted his weight and focused on Therethin again. Crying always made him awkward, especially from a seventeen year old girl who should understand the process already!   
“The goal of these three children-” went on Therethin, “Is to retrieve the Diamond of the North and bring it home. Once, and only once they return with the Diamond of the North will they be accepted into the community and bring peace and fruitfulness to all of the land!”   
A few straggled claps echoed against the white walls of the room.   
Therethin’s voice booms, “It is now time to choose our Journiers!”   
Jacon crossed his arms across his chest and sighed. They were almost done.   
Therethin walks to the large grey basket in the middle of the stage that holds the names of almost every kid in the kingdom. Except Jacon, of course, since his father has enough money to buy him out of the whole process.   
Seconds turned into minutes as Therethin fished for a slip of paper to choose. Leave it to the Old Coot to make this process last ten years.   
He finally chooses one and exclaims to the crowd, “Ha- I found one! Now, let’s see who the lucky winner is!” The whole hall is in silence as he reads the name, “Holly Rendaira.”   
A few murmurs and gasps sound as a girl bravely walks onto the stage.  
“Phew,” she says, taking the microphone from Therethin, “Finally! After, what has it been now,” she starts counting her fingers, “Five year! After five years I’ve finally been chosen!” Her pale cheeks shine and her mouth is wide open in a smile while everyone stares at her aghast. No one has ever been cheerful after being chosen. No one has ever taken the microphone, either.   
Therethin regains his composure and reaches for another name.   
“Ahwren Lucotta.” The girl who was crying in front of Jacon inhales sharply. She uses her fingers to wipe away any tears left and starts walking towards the stage. As usual the crowd parts and stares as she walks through the alley they made.   
She holds her head level as she takes the five steps to the top of the stage. Her clear brown eyes are tinted red, but other than that she seems to have pulled herself together.   
“Now, last but not least, our final Journier is… Jacon Lyndoo.”   
The room goes silent. Jacon stands there until someone nudges him. “Go up, that’s you.” they whisper.   
His palms sweat and he balls them into a fist, the floor underneath his feet seems to go up, I’m about to pass out he thinks, but somehow he makes it to the stage.   
Once he’s up there he uses his anger to come back to reality.   
“You did this to me!” He screams. “You did this! All the money you had and you couldn’t even spare your son the public humiliation! Well now it’s your turn to lose your honor!” He wipes away some spittle from around his mouth definitely.   
After a moment of deadpan Therethin tries to break the awkwardness.   
“So- ah- are you ready for your adventure?” Holly beams with confidence while Ahwren hugs herself, and Jacon looks ahead with a face full of anger.   
He barely notices anything as someone puts boots on his feet and tightens a heavy backpack around his shoulders. He doesn’t even notice the goodbyes of the people in the Grand Hallway of Ciouxpa, as the Tube Way takes him away from the only place he’d ever known.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahwren wiped away a tear before they entered the sunlight of the bright forest.   
For fifty long years Ciouxpa had been sending teenagers between the ages of fourteen and twenty to retrieve a diamond from a secret cave, it gave life and energy to the kingdom and kept us alive for all these years.   
Of the one hundred and fifty teenagers that have gone on the journey only fifty one have come back. On the forty- second one everyone was flabbergasted when two contestants came back rather than one.   
Coming back to reality, Ahwren realizes they had all been lost in thought for a while. Holly’s eyes brighten and lose some of their deepness. She looks up and seeing Ahwren staring at her brings her back to earth.   
She spins in a circle examining where she is.   
They stood on the metal plate of the Tube Way, which had brought them into the middle of a pine forest. Sun filtered down between the pine needles and the whole place had a fresh smell to it. Stepping off the platform Ahwren found the needles squishy, and they blocked the sound of her footsteps. The whole place rejuvenated Ahwren.   
Next Ahwren studied her companions for the trip, Holly had chin length blond hair, it was wavy and she had five piercing going down her ear, each one filled with a stud. She has keen brown eyes and is taller, maybe an inch or two taller than Ahwren.   
Ahwren could see how her fighting spirit and undaunted point of view could be a valuable asset to their team.   
She looked over at the boy, he was kneeling in the dirt, maybe finally realizing how embarrassing his actions had been.   
His short black hair brought out his dark green eyes and his broad shoulders made him seem twice as wide as Ahwren. He wore a black t-shirt with faded jeans, he had the money to afford nicer clothes, but there was no doubt to Ahwren the clothing was his choice. Probably did it to spite his father, for a person to lash out like that on live television in front of millions of people, the father and son probably had more history that was kept in the shadows.   
She tried to think of how he could be helpful in their survival, but it was hard to say. He’d lived a pretty safe life up until now. But maybe he had a strength to him that neither of girls had. It was hard to tell because Ahwren could only see half of his face, the rest was covered in shadows.   
“Okay,” Ahwren said, taking out her braid, “What do we do? We will be the first team to make it back with all of us alive, what do we do?”   
Holly looks up, “That’s the spirit! Honey, you’re in the wilderness, your hair looks fine.”   
Ahwren jerks her hand down, but a few seconds later it starts wriggling through her hair again.   
“Here, help me go through these packs.” Holly tosses a small bag to Ahwren.   
“But why,” asked Ahwren, “we know what’s in them. Haven’t you heard the same speech each year?”   
Holly smirks, “Honey, if you have enough attention span for that, I’m proud of you.”   
Arwhen sighs and focuses on braiding her hair.   
“What did I do?” screams Jacon.   
“Ah, so you finally came back to reality?” Holly asks. “I’m Holly Rendaira.”   
“What did I do?” Jacon whispers to himself.   
Holly sighs and squats next to him. “Time for the pep talk then? Our past doesn’t matter any more. It’s just us now. All alone. All on our own. Whatever happened then doesn’t matter. And not to be a Debby Downer here, but even if we make it back we won’t be the same people as we are now. So the best thing is to just forget about it.”   
“He betrayed me. Why am I stuck in this thing with you guys? I’m not a pauper!”   
A flash of anger fills Ahwren’s body, but it diminishes into hurt. She takes a deep breath, trying to get her feelings under control. She wipes her face with the back of her hand.   
“Well, looks like I’m working with two people who seem pretty out of commission. Am I right?” Asks Holly.   
Ahwren stand up, “No, I can help.”   
Jacon sighs, “Fine. I want to get out of this thing alive too, so, I’m in too.”   
“Great, which way do we go?” Holly questions.   
“There’s a map in each of our packs, next to our water bottles.” Ahwren tells her.   
“Ok, girly, do you know where everything in the pack is?”   
Ahwren sighs, “Yeah.” she debates about how much to tell them, but decides that’s all they need to know about her- for now.   
“Then maybe you should lead us.”   
“No, I’m not as brave as you.” Ahwren states.   
Holly answers, “You’d be surprised at how brave you can be when you don’t have a choice.”


	3. Chapter 3

You’d be surprised at how much of a coward I am. Thought Holly. Everyone seemed to think she was dauntless, but she wasn’t. And if people thought she was, how could she break their hearts? The only choice she ever had was to act brave, even when she wasn’t. She did believe that no one had the options to quit or give up hope, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t be terrified the whole time. It just meant you can’t let your fear control you.   
“So according to the map we should go through these woods for awhile,” Ahwren tells them, “then cross a small plain, climb a cliff, oh goodness I hope there are stairs, then we reach a cave. Inside the cave is the diamond. Of course, this is the journey most of the other kids seemed to map out, only fifty one people have made the journey and come back alive.”   
“So when we get the diamond do we immediately go back home?” questions Jacon.   
“Not in the way you’re thinking. We immediately head back home, but we still have to get back to the starting point.” Ahwren tells him.   
“And how long does it usually take to finish the quest?” asks Jacon.   
Ahwren huffs, “Have you never paid any attention to these things?”   
Jacon stands up and crosses his arms across his chest, “No, I never thought I’d have to worry about being in one! How long does it usually take?”   
“But what about the people who do have to worry about being chosen? The people who are scarred for life because they were chosen as a Journier?”   
“Are you calling me heartless?”   
“Ok guys,” Holly interferes, “Calm down. We have a long way to go on this journey, let’s not get worked up too early, alright?”   
They don’t seem to notice her comment.   
“I think it usually takes a month, am I right?” Holly asks Ahwren.   
“Yeah,” she breaks her glare at Jacon to look at Holly, “The longest was the first one, it took two months and one week, the shortest was the thirty-fifth, it only took them three and a half weeks to complete.”   
“So I say we start walking, what do you guys think?” Holly asks.   
“Sure.” Jacon states. Ahwren nods her head. 

“Are you sure we are going the right way? We’ve been walking for hours!” Jacon complains.   
“This journey takes a month, Jacon, and we’ve been walking for two hours. Have you never walked more than a half mile before?” retorts Holly.   
“No, I’ve done a mile and a half.”   
Holly mouths ‘Wow.’ and keeps walking.   
“Here, you need some water?” Ahwren asks the boy.   
“Not from you!”   
“It’s a fresh water bottle!”   
“I’m not taking anything from you! I have my own water bottles!”   
“You two need to stop it!” calls Holly from up the trail.   
Jacon sends Ahwren one final glare then starts walking again. Seriously, did Holly have to treat these two like children?

That night at the campfire things got worse.   
“No, you can’t put it there! Put it in the side pocket!” exclaims Ahwren.   
“What? No, this is fine.” Jacon proceeds to put the jerky and almonds in the bag.   
“But their original spot was in the side pocket, you have to put them in the side pocket.”   
“It doesn’t matter, if you want to do it to your own bag, fine, but leave mine be!” counters Jacon.   
“But-”   
“Leave it be.” Holly tells her. “He’s right, you can keep your bag organized while his is trash, to each his own.” Ahwren almost looks ready to break, but she takes a deep breath and somehow holds it inside.   
The night was probably unpleasant for the other two on the trip, but Holly was used to sleeping outside. It wasn’t that her family was too poor for a house, they could afford one, she just felt most alive in nature. This trip, as much as she hated it, was her chance to show her skills.   
The only problem was that meant she had to make it out of the forest alive. She was sure Jacon would do anything to make it out alive, even it meant risking the other’s lives. She couldn’t tell what Ahwren would do when the time came.   
As for her- she couldn’t stand it if any of them died. Especially if she could help it. She had just about convinced herself they could all make it out of this thing alive, but a tiny part of her knew the chances were slim.   
And if they couldn’t all make it, who would they lose? Either the small, shy girl, or the boy who’d never faced anything dangerous in his life. Honestly, Holly doubted he’d even been this close to a fire.   
The thought put a smirk on her face as she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jacon woke to the cold morning. In the middle of August. Why was it so cold? He reached to grab his satin comforter but found dirt.   
With difficulty he opened his pale green eyes. The sun shone right in his face and he heard a woman’s voice say, “Nice that you’re finally awake.”   
That was when Jacon remembered what had happened. He’d hoped it was a nightmare.   
Running his hand along his face Jacon asks, “What time is it?”   
Holly responds, “Probably about eight. About an hour ago Ahwren woke up, went and sat on that log over there. Wonder what’s going on in that little head of her’s.”  
Jacon hoists himself up into a sitting position. “Why didn’t they supply us with coffee?”   
Holly chuckles and goes back to whittling.   
“What are you making?” Jacon asks.   
“It’s a surprise.”   
“Yay, ‘cuz I love surprises.”   
“Seriously, Jacon, you should get up. I want to get this journey over with. That means getting up early. I found bacon bits in my bag, so chances are there are some in your bag too.”   
After a small meal of water, bacon bits, and salmon, the trio start walking again. 

“Let’s take a break.” Suggests Holly. Jacon, more than happy to oblige, sits in the dirt and finishes his water bottle.   
“Here.” Holly sits down next to him and hands him a large branch.   
“What’s this?”   
“A walking stick! It’s handy for walking in the woods. Especially without a clear path to take and a heavy load.”   
Jacon glances at Ahwren’s small form, “Does she have one? She probably needs it more than me.”   
“I’m making hers right now. It’ll probably be done tonight.”   
“Well then she can take mine for now.”   
Holly leans closer. “Take the walking stick. Look at her. She can handle herself for today.”   
“Better than me?” Jacon asks, his eyebrows shooting up.   
After a moment Holly looks him straight in the eyes and says, “Yes. Your arrogance is going to get you killed. Why are you letting your pride get in the way of a little bit of help?”   
“Because I’m better than you!” he explodes. “I actually have muscle, I get enough to eat every night, so why do you treat me like the one who needs help when it’s her?” He points towards Ahwren, now fully engaged in the conversation. “Is it because you know there’s no use in trying to save her, so why not use our little resources for the people who have a chance for surviving?”   
As the two stare each other down they hear a sob.   
“Now look what you did!” Holly motions to Ahwren.   
“See what I mean she’s weak!”   
“Crying does not make a person weak! At least she has a heart, because right now I’m not sure you do!”   
Jacon opens his mouth to retort back, but it dies on his lips. When he finally comes up with what to say it’s pathetic, and he knows it. “I have a heart. Let’s keep going.” 

During the walk Jacon tried to keep his emotions in check. But what if Holly was right. There is no what if- she was right. He was heartless and selfish. And Jacon had a hard time swallowing it.


End file.
